My Little Pony: The Journal of the Two Sisters: The Official Chronicles of Princesses Celestia and Luna (My Little Pony, Friendship Is Magic)

If you've ever wanted to learn the younger side of Celestia and Luna this is the MLP book for you. Hard core fans will be able to piece together history of Equestria and remember key events from Hearth's Warming Eve. With the first section of the journal being the diary entries of both sisters from their own perspective and the second being the diary entries made by the Mane 6 from Season 4 of MLP:Friendship is Magic. Basic Events Outlined (Spoiler Free) In the journal you begin with the coronation of Elsa & Anna after a brief explanation of how they became the Princesses of Equestria, I mean Celestia & Luna. Afterwards you hear about how the sisters picked the location for their castle. It then tells of how Luna befriends a manticore and how the castle is constructed. It then tells of a encounter with a certain prissy unicorn princess. You then learn of Celestia's love of books and Luna's more adventurous side where she discovers a herd of zebras. The next major conflict comes when the two sisters conflict over air space with griffons. Then take a trip to the Crystal Empire where the Crystal Heart has been stolen by a dragon. Finally journey through Celestia and Luna rising and lower both sun and moon as well as finding out about themselves. (Spoilers Abound) Approached by Star Swirl the Bearded directly after the events of Hearth's Warming Eve, which led to the founding of Equestria, Luna and Celie (as Luna affectionately calls her sister in her entries) were chosen to rule over this new land. The only reason the entries give as to why they were chosen was that they are alicorns; the combination of Earth, Pegasus and Earth ponies. It also introduces the two sisters as blank flanks who have yet to find their special calling in life. The sisters claim that while they are presumably decades old (Luna says she is many times older than Princess Platinum), they do not have their cutie marks because alicorns age differently than a regular pony. Nothing is said about their parents or who told them such information. You then learn about the fear and worry both sisters have over becoming princesses but they soon get excited and see themselves more as protectors of the land rather than rulers. It also pokes fun at Luna trying to write i the Royal Canterlot Voice, from the episode Luna Eclipsed which takes place on Nightmare Night, where Luna then shifts into normal writing mode saying her and Celie use to play together using that voice. After searching the lands of Equestria both sisters agree to build their castle in the Everfree Forest, not only because it's mysterious but because they also see the Tree of Harmony which Star Swirl informs them is indeed the tree from legend. Luna accounts how she's the one who wanted the weird trap doors, the paintings without eyes and the hooves holding torches. Later Celie is over joyed about the idea of a library with a secret area for her to hide away in. During the construction of the castle a group of ponies looking for building materials go missing. Luna rushes to find them and encounters a mantircore. Upon failed attempts at defeating the enemy, Celie comes to her side. After subduing the beast with the aid of Star Swirl, the manticore breaks down and cries. Luna, much like Fluttershy, is able to understand the crying of the animal and realizes the ponies were taking materials from his house not even knowing it was his. This leads to the befriending of the manticore as well as many other Forest creatures by Luna. Once the castle is completed, King Bullion the king of the unicorns and his daughter Princess Platinum visit. The Princessis hardly amused by the idea of Celie and Luna ruling over them and states they should have asked her to rule. She even calls the pair of sisters blank flanks and can't believe she is to be ruled over by two ponies who don't even have their cutie marks yet. Luna then uses her knowledge of the castle to her advantage and using the Canterlot Voice combined with a trap door and Melvin the manticore, scares the Princess into submission. With Princess Platinum now for the two sisters' rule, she has tapestries (the ones Rarity later want to restore) created by unicorns to adorn the walls of the castle. Next the rest of the leaders and sidekicks from Hearth's Warming Eve come to visit the castle (Clover the Clever, Star Swirl, Smart Cookie, Private Pansy and Chancellor Puddinghead) It's also revealed Star Swirl is working on time travel spells and hopes the two sisters can help him with it. Melvin the Manticore then tells Luna of a forbidden area in the Everfree Forest. Luna quickly investigates and stumbles upon zebras who all talk in rhyme just like Zecora. At first they fear this winged beast is a manticore. After telling them she is an alicorn and a princess and ruler of this land no less, the zebras tell Luna of how manticores use to attack the peaceful zebras so using potions and spells the zebras were able to make a protective shell to keep the manticores away. Thus the manticores gave up and left them alone which turned that area of the forest into a forbidden place for manticores. Star Swirl then asks Luna to attempt to move the stars which proves difficult and Luna fails at her attempt. But Star Swirl has finally gotten a age and time spell mixed up and travels through time and ages back to a younger point in his life. Upon later entries, Celie asks Star Swirl about the Star symbol on the tree of Harmony and if they'll ever meet this pony (Twilight obviously) and Star Swirl gets a gleam in his eye hinting that they will. Conflict soon arises again when during some flying with Commander Hurricane, Celie and Luna bump into griffons. The griffon leader Gregor the griffon states that their original peace treaty with the pegasus ponies about air space borders is null and void because that was before the land was Equestria. After a threat of war between the griffins and pegasus, Luna consults Melvin and he informs her that griffins have a sweet tooth and that Gregor loves eclairs and that talking in rhyme like a zebra might confuse Gregor just like it had the manticores when they found the zebras. Luna then has Star Swirl make some eclairs and in her Canterlot Voice she speaks in rhyme to Gregor and after eating the eclairs he admits defeat and the peace treaty over airspace is reinstated. With that war avoided another one brews in the Crystal Empire with the crystal heart stolen by a dragon. Princess Amore calls upon the protectors of Equestria to aid her in talking to the dragon. The crystal heart had actually been mined out of the Crytalline Mountain which had been the home of the dragon. He had been sleeping at the time and when he later found out the ponies had taken crystals from his territory is when he stole the crystal heart. Celie tries to reason with him that it's important and the Crystal Empire will fall without it, he treats it as a mere trinket. Celie then uses her own Canterlot Royal speaking voice and scares the dragon into submission. In the last few entries of the diary Luna and Celie awaken to a dark sky and discover that the unicorns have been sacrificing their magic to bring day and night. You see, it takes 6 uncirosn to raise and set the sun and moon. After doing it for a while the unicorn loses its magic forever. Star Swirl had been the only unicorn ever to be able to raise and lower it without losing his magic. But upon that day they had run out of adult unicorns and Star Swirl attempted to do it himself. Failing his beard turns from brown to grey and he loses his magic. Luna and Celie are then informed that Alicorns have a different type of magic and are actually made stronger by raising and lowering the sun and moon. Upon trying, they both succeed with Luna lowering the moon and Celie raising the sun. Rejuvenated by this, the sisters are able to restore the magic of the unicorns and finally obtain their cutie marks. Celie gains a sun on her flank and Luna a crescent moon. Luna tells how she now has a purpose and can not wait to do it again and is happy she can do this for as long as she's princess... (Until she becomes Nightmare Moon of course...) (spoilers end) The Journal of the Two Sisters concludes there with the next section being the Journal of Friendship which are the entries made by the Mane 6 over the course of Season 4. The book ends with a few pages of blank lines to write your own stories of friendship. Overall the book is written to be an easy read book. I believe the biggest word it uses is amalgamation but in general the writing is not complicated and can be read by younger kids (although they might not fully understand it). While not the most intersting or well written book for older kids, if you're a fan of the show then you'll love it. The book is wrapped in a removable sleeve (jacket?) which is the bottom half of the picture as shown in the item listing. Underneath is the words the Journal of the Two Sisters with the back being the crest of the two sisters circling the moon and sun as seen in the show. Each character has their own stationary styled pages and different hoof-writing (hand-writing). The embellishments of the pages (borders, little bits of art) make it fun to look at and makes it feel more like a journal/diary. It's a fine read for younger kids and fans of the show and a nice cosplay item as well because of how its made. It's a good pick up to read so 10/10 would read again.

The Journal of the Two Sisters is a companion piece to the Friendship is Magic main series. I bought it for the glimpse into the show's backstory. It definitely delivered on that. This is backstory specifically for Celestia and Luna. It starts when they were first crowned princesses of Equestria, shortly after its founding. Their half of the book records their activities from that day through officially taking up their duty of raising the sun and moon. It fills the gap between the Unicorn Tribe doing it in the origin story, "Heartwarming Eve", and Celestia and Luna doing it in the story recounted in "Mare in the Moon". (Small note: The journal ends before Discord's reign of terror). It is a fun read. The journal is written in-universe (what the human reader holds is a defictionalization) and so the personalities of the two princesses show in the first person narration. As it turns out, Pinkie used the Organ-to-the-outside exactly as Luna designed it. Fans rarely get to see Celestia and Luna interact as sisters and this has a lot of that. They fit the mold of the Foolish Sibling-Responsible Sibling dynamic; Celestia is a polite princess and a book nerd while Luna likes adventure and pranks. There are lots of adventures within this tory. They range from befriending a manticore in the Everfree Forest to negotiating peace with the griffin kingdom. Also, there's something with the ROYAL CANTERLOT VOICE that is too awesome to spoil here. It's not just the royal sisters. Starswirl the Bearded is also an important character here. He was basically Merlin to Celestia and Luna's King Arthur. No wonder Luna could recognize Twilight's Nightmare Night costume and praise it for accuracy. The second half of this book is the full version of the Mane Six's journal entries from Season 4 of the main show. It was fun to read those too but there was nothing new there. POLISH Celestia and Luna have alternating motifs of sun and moon and warm and dark colors for their pages. The art style is similar to fairy-tale recounting in "The Mare of The Moon". The Mane Six (and others) also have distinct backgrounds. This adds to the emotion of the book. Trickster Eric Novels gives "Journal of the Royal Sisters" an A+

Loved it. Came on time. Condition is excellent. Wonderful for fans and family. SPOILERS! SPOILERS! The story isn't the most original or complex, but it is naturally for children. However, if you are an older fan of mlp, it does give you additional insight to the princesses and their personality and adventures as young alicorns. You also get to know just a little more about Star Swirl and other minor characters like Princess Platinum, Clover, and etc. It also answers some (not all) continuity issues from the episode, Hearth's Warming Eve about Equestria's history for those bothered by the episode's continuity errors... If you were expecting Celestia and Luna's origin story and where alicorns come from... Not so much. At best, there were subtle implications that more alicorns existed than themselves, but none were introduced. It's a fast and entertaining read. I literally finished it in 40 minutes. If you decide to purchase, I recommend the physical copy as the Kindle copy does not carry the Journal of Friendship, which the hardbound does. The Journal of Friendship carries dairy pages of the Mane 6 and other ponies and the lessons they learned daily. For what the book is intended to be and the demographic it is for, the book is fun. I would recommend it for any family or fan, especially if you like either princess. I hope this was a helpful and insightful review to those wishing or considering purchase of this book.

After a while, the fans finally get some "official" clues into the history of Luna and Celestia's pre-history during the founding of Equestria. The story begins sometime after the events of what was covered in the Hearth's Warming Eve pageant, but the book itself is handled like an actual diary written by the sisters in their experiences of becoming genuine princesses. This "official" journal is sure to leave some deep impacts in the already given continuity. We start out by discovering that the sisters were in fact alicorns from birth, and raised by other alicorns. They don't mention who the other alicorns were, if their parents or other relatives were alicorns, or even where they all lived prior to where the journal begins, other than they both used to hang around the hills in Canterlot. The sisters are approached by Star Swirl the Bearded and reps from the three pony tribes to take up the title of princesses and rule Equestria, since at the time they seem to be the only alicorns available. Representing the tribes were Smart Cookie, Clover the Clever, and Private Pansy as shown in Hearth's Warming Eve history, but where Star Swirl himself knew of the only remaining alicorns were during the whole Windigo crisis isn't explained, as I'd imagine their combined magics might have helped stave off the creatures that were causing all these problems for the pony tribes. During the princesses' coronation, its revealed that the act of raising the sun and moon were first handled by the unicorns, primarily lead by Star Swirl. This means, that even if there weren't any alicorns at all, Equestrians could still have control over the sun and moon if they had enough unicorn magic to accomplish it. Celestia mentions that alicorns don't age at the same rate as regular ponies. Now if that's because they stop physically aging at a certain point like high elves or other mythical creatures isn't known, nor if alicorns are in fact immortal, at least to the point of maintaining a long life span. How Celestia and Luna have maintained their physical age might be the result of time manipulation as described in a later chapter, but still nothing definitive on their longevity for being around for more than a millennium. If alicorns can naturally live this long, than what happened to the other alicorns the sisters said raised them? After making their new crib in the Everfree Forest near the Tree of Harmony, we get a little backing up the whole scenario from Castle-Mania where Luna had all these trap doors and secret passages made. Funny how she has a playful spirit back when she was younger, but turned into "Serious McSerious" a few centuries later. This plays out when Princess Platinum(who is in fact not King Sombra's daughter)questions Celestia and Luna's qualifications into being made instant princesses. Luna gets a little more defensive than she needed to regarding this by using the Royal Canterlot Voice on her, plus her relationship with a friendly manticore to dissuade Platinum from her conflicting attitude, then sending her down one of her Scooby-Doo traps, which for some reason makes Platinum want to be friends with her afterwards. It's not like some of the royalty in Equestria wasn't allowed to question Celestia and Luna's selection at being made princesses, then again no real explanation was given as to how these two particular alicorns are the ones that should be made their new overlords. Another thing though is that Platinum seems to have had a slight personality change since Hearth's Warming Eve, although what we know of her was only portrayed in a play, so its hard to say what she was really like during that bit of history. Celestia and Luna had befriend a manticore named Melvin in the Everfree Forest. Luna apparently has the ability to communicate with other animals, similar to Fluttershy. It's known that the princesses had the ability to synchronize with the Elements of Harmony, but it wasn't ever made totally clear if they had the abilities that would be passed on to the Mane 6. They do show that Luna has a humorous nature with all the trap doors she made in the Castle of the Two Sisters, so she probably also personifies Pinkie's element too. Luna later heads out past the forest to discover a tribe of zebras. They do apparently all have their own cutie marks, and all speak in rhyme. They used to be prey to some of the nastier manticores from the Everfree Forest, so they developed the art of spellcasting to protect themselves. If this is what lead to the manticores being rarely seen in the Everfree Forest isn't told, but they don't seem to bug the ponies too much either, and their feud with the zebras probably lead to them being more docile, similar to Manny Roar shown in the TV series pilot. Star Swirl is instrumental in teaching the princesses how to use magic, specifically in raising the sun and moon, to which they finally get their cutie marks. Since alicorns live longer than normal ponies, they don't actually get their cutie marks until later in their lives, at least what seems to be around their early teens. Although, just because alicorns have longevity doesn't mean they should get their cutie marks later in life. Again, they'd need other alicorns to compare them to. Another thing Star Swirl goes over with the sisters is that his time travel spells. Apparently, the one he uses to go to the past can only be used once for a few moments, but whether this can be used only the one time per magic-user is still unknown. He also has figured out how to travel into the future, but if this works the same way as going to the past with how long you can spend hasn't been unrevealed, although it's hinted that Star Swirl was there long enough to find out a few things about Equestria's future history. Star Swirl's time magic also allows him to use an age-reversal spell allowing him to make himself physically younger. If this is true, it would explain how Luna and Celestia have managed to live so long, even probably longer than normal alicorn standards. Also, could Star Swirl still be alive after all this time from using this spell? Even though it wouldn't stop him from being outright killed, it is possible that the spell might allow someone to use it up to a certain point. Like their own body would naturally die, or they would run out of magical energy after using it for too long. If that was the case, alicorns could utilize this magic longer than ponies could given their higher powers, but would also eventually run out of "alicorn mana". One bit has Celestia and Luna running into griffons for the first time as they are muscling into Equestria's airspace. Commander Hurricane(who here is revealed to actually be a guy)explains that the pegasi originally settled a truce with the griffons for flying in their domain, but since the tribes had united to form Equestria, their contract is null and void. The princesses manage to win the griffon king over with some tasty eclairs, bringing a little light onto the griffon's love of baked good that lead to ones like Gustave being a master chef. After no mention of them at all until now, we finally focus on the Crystal Empire as Celestia and Luna get a message from Princess Amore(who is possible one of Princess Cadence's ancestors even though she's only a unicorn and not an alicorn)saying that the Crystal Heart. which she uses to spread her love magic throughout the empire, was snatched by a dragon. The Crystal Heart was found in someplace called the Crystalline Mountain near the empire, and is what gave Amore the source of her cutie mark(also like Cadence), the power of which she also uses to protect the empire. So, without it the Crystal Ponies are all mopey, as if the Crystal Heart was the only thing that could give them any positive feelings. The dragon who took it claims that the Crystal Heart was part of his horde in the Crystalline Mountain that he put in before going into a long hibernation. When the Crystal Ponies found it, they didn't know there was anyone with a copyright on it, so after the dragon finally woke up, he came to get back what he says is his. Celestia and Luna dial up some griffon buddies and Melvin the manticore to try and intimidate the dragon into giving his bling back, even though they find it waiting to be taken out with the dragon's trash as he doesn't seem to care about it too much. But, the dragon gets into real a hissy fit with Celestia over ownership rights of the Crystal Heart since most dragons are greedy hoarding jerks who don't like to part with anything. This leads to a serious continuity fault concerning Celestia. After the dragon tells her to hit the road, instead of trying to negotiate for the Crystal Heart like a fair ruler, she goes totally postal and uses the Royal Canterlot Voice to scare the living ink out of the poor lizard. She gets way more high and mighty than she needed to, partially because she doesn't really have a dog in this fight from a political point of view since the Crystal Empire isn't in her jurisdiction. Plus, Celestia could seemingly use a more beneficial solution, like offering the dragon some extra shiny gems in exchange. Then again, this is the same princess who condemned her own sister to being marooned on the moon for a thousand years just because she didn't turn off her nightlight one time! The dragon concedes, despite the fact he could have totally flash-fried Celestia, and returns the Crystal Heart. The Crystal Ponies celebrate by having the first ever Crystal Faire. This wasn't ever mentioned before in the History Of The Crystal Empire book Twilight found in their library years later because it was probably on the last page that was ripped out. In the last part of the journal covering the sisters' origins, they learn that Star Swirl has physically aged slightly because he used all his magical energy to raise the sun on his own, as they need about six unicorns to raise it and six more for the moon. But all the other ten unicorns were out with the flu or something, and it never occurred to Star Swirl to ask the two powerful alicorn princesses to do it. In taking over the task of moving the heavens, Celestia and Luna finally get their cutie marks, plus this also give them even more magical potential by rejuvenating their powers. Whether this is what helps give them their supposed immortality isn't totally explained, but it does allow them to replenish other ponies' mana, including giving Star Swirl some of his youthfulness back, so that does stand out as being a probably source of Celestia and Luna's longevity. The rest of the journal is actually "The Journal Of Friendship", which was everything that the main cast wrote down as the lesson of the week for every episode in Season 4, as well as some additional material, including an actual blank journal portion for fans to write in on their own. So the last quarter of the book is like a behind the scenes epilogue to each episode of the season, plus some rather expanded dialogue from Pinkie Pie(and you though she only rambled on that much when she's talking!). The book is pretty much a necessity for any brony wanting to know most of the early days of Equestria and the princess' origins, although there's still alot left unaccounted for, like the sisters' parents, their extended "royal family", and their original synchronizing with the Elements of Harmony. Maybe these plot strings will be tied up in future episodes of the TV series or other expanded universe material, but your average MLP fan should definitely be satisfied with this installment.

Great prequel kinda thing to the tv series. Its cool to know the backstory and history of the two sisters. How they were chosen to rule over Equestria, building their castle, and getting their cutie marks etc. I really hope they, someday, make this into an episode. It really does make the whole plot of the tv series expand as you discover new things that makes the tv series all fit together. Even explains a few things....and makes you wonder a bit too. Only thing I don't like, is that the Journal of the Two sisters part of the book ends abruptly. Just after they get their cutie marks and discover their true calling, the last entry is by Celestia and basically states that she feels, since starting the journal, that they reached "a new stage" in their lives. And thats it. Then its the Journal of Friendship by Twilight and the others. I guess I was expecting there to be a few entries about the events of Luna and her becoming jealous of her sister...and the whole Nightmare Moon story. Perhaps a final closing entry by Celestia after she had to banish her sister. Gues that was to....dark or sad... for kids to read maybe? O well. That story was told in the tv series anyway. But still, maybe they will come out with "The Lost Pages" edition of the journal...or something like that. In the Journal of Friendship part, I do like that there are a few expanded entries, even a few added ones that were not in the tv show(mostly by Pinkie).

If you have a young daughter (or son) who loves My Little Pony, this is a perfect gift. The language is simple and easy to understand, and the story engaging. If, like me, you're a Brony (those are the older fans of the show, for all you moms with hectic lives that are much too busy to keep up with trends) you'll like the book to, but possibly not as much. It fills in or explains certain continuity hiccups, but still leaves a lot of questions unanswered. There's no mention of Discord, Chrysalis, Nightmare Moon, or Tirek. This makes it less of an explain everything story, and m8re of a fun standalone prequel. Think of it as the Hobbit, not the Silmarillion. Lastly, it's rather short. It can be read in two or three hours if you go nonstop, and I suggest episodic reading. It's not perfect but for what it costs, it's more than a value.

My granddaughter loved it

As a fan of MLP:FiM, I've always wondered what lies in the past of the two oldest mares in Equestria. This was written by showrunner Amy Keating Rogers herself and while it is an "abridged" version, it does cover enough detail to immerse a fan further into the universe of the Generation 4 MLP characters. I was overall impressed with the tone, the pacing, and the general writing style -- it felt a lot like the show in novella form. I love how it hints to many concepts in the series and gives allusion to canon characters in the show that align with the mythology, adding layers of depth to once-simple concepts that the animated series hasn't been able to cover in the show's canon. I won't say anymore because like every good book, one has to read it in order to understand the critic's intent (if they so wish)

Für MLP Fans definitiv ein Muss. Es ist wunderschön gestaltet und macht Spaß zu lesen. Es beginnt mit der Krönung von Celestia und Luna. Lustig und interessant. Man erfährt noch einiges über die Beiden. Die Illustrationen im Tagebuch der beiden sind auch schön. (Das Bild mit Logo und den beiden Schwestern vorne drauf auf dem Bild kann man entfernen) Die zweite Hälfte enthält die Erlebnisse von Twilight und den anderen, die sie in der 4. Season ins Tagebuch schreiben, mit den Markierungen von Discord. Schade sind allerdings diese komischen Bilder in dem letzteren Teil. Da haben sie so hässliche Bilder von den Main six rein gemacht. Das Buch hat allerdings einen Nachteil: Man hat es viel zu schnell durch.

Un vero must have per i veri fan della saga! Il libro è bellissimo: copertina rigida, colori bellissimi e contenuti interessanti lo rendono forse uno dei più bei gadget MLP che io abbia mai avuto. Ottima qualità e bello da vedere nella libreria.

Good quality

Nickel

Buena lectura complementaria para aquellos fans de la serie, también tiene una muy buena presentación. Recomendable para niños y niñas.